Paper clips



April 26, 1960 L. G. HUDSON PAPER CLIPS Filed Feb. 26, 1958 m mwmvw wkw H RM PAPER CLIPS Leslie Gordon Hudson, Epping, England Application February 26, 1958, Serial No. 717,727

Claims priority, application Great Britain February 27, 1957 1 Claim. (31. 24 6 The invention relates to spring paper clips of the kind which are formed with a pair of projecting arms or members by means of which pressure may be applied to the spring to open it for the insertion of the papers to be held.

The invention has among its objects to provide an improved clip of this kind which may conveniently be connected to another clip, advantageously in superposed series, one clip below the other, to facilitate transport and inspection of the various bundles of papers or files held within each clip, the superposition above and below of successive tiles also enabling the reference mark of each file to be readily visible, and to provide what is known as a visible filing system.

According to the invention a clip of the kind defined is provided advantageously to the front or the rear of the clip, with a projection, advantageously in the form of a hook, of a size and shape to receive in suspended engagement one or other of the arms or other parts of similar clips, which are formed at convenient positions with eyes a or holes for the purpose, and with an eye hole or the equivalent for engagement with a hook on a similar clip.

The hooks may be stamped out of the metal of one or other of the arms of the clip, curved so as to project outwardly from the front face of the arm. Alternatively the hook may be formed in the lower sleeve-like part of the clip, but no limitation is involved as to the position on the clip on which the hook is mounted, nor where the hole may be formed on one of the arms of the clip, within which the hook is received. Alternatively the hole may be formed in the spring portion of the clip. 7

The invention is diagrammatically illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 is a cross-section of a clip constructed according to the invention; 7

Figure 2 shows a series of clips suspended one from another, and

Figures 3 to 6 are cross-sectional elevations of modified constructions of the invention.

In carrying the invention into effect according to one construction as illustrated in Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings, the clip may be formed as a cylindrical spring member a of substantially horse-shoe cross-section, with the longitudinal opening b downwardly directed. Pairs of arms are mounted to extend through slots d in the walls of the cylindrical member a to taper towards each other in V-form from the top to the bottom, so that at the bottom, in the normal position when not in use, the arms 0 lie closely adjacent or in contact, and at the upper ends are relatively widely separated. Projecting laterally from the upper end of one of the arms c at a position above the spring member a or from the spring member itself, are hooks e which may have any suitable form, provided only that they can be inserted through holes provided at any convenient position in similarly formed clips, so that when suspended from each other the clips form a superposed series one below the other,

ice

with part of each side portion visible, to permit of the I visual reference to the files being made without the necessity of unhooking one clip from another, as illustrated in Figure 2. i

More than one hook may be provided on each clip. In such case the hooks may be provided on one or both arms or on the cylindrical part of the-clip. Similarly more than one hole can be formed so that the clip may conveniently be suspended from two or more positions. Thus after a file has been examined, the clip may be turned over and hooked in the hole of another clip, thus indicating that the file held by the clip has been dealt with and is no longer required.'

In a still further construction one arm of the clip may be formed with a hook, or as a hook, and the other arm, or the same arm formed with a hole or holes.

Thus it will be understood that no limitation is involved as to the form or construction of the clip according to the invention, provided only that it provides springpressed arms, operable by finger pressure, to open the arms to engage a file or the like, and that books and/or holes are formed in any convenient part of the clip so that a number of clips may be suspended one from the other in such manner as to facilitate their inspection and/ or filing.

The hooks may be stamped out of metal, as shown in Figure 1 of the drawings, or may be secured as separate members on the clip as illustrated in Figure 6.

It will thus be appreciated that clips according to the invention can not only be suspended from nails or the like supporting means, but are themselves adapted by the provision of an additional hook or hooks to support other like clips or other articles and to be supported by other similarly formed clips.

The hook member may be upwardly turned as illustrated in Figures 1 and 4 of the drawings, or may be downwardly turned as illustrated in Figures 3, 5 and 6.

In Figures4, 5 and 6, the spring member a is substituted by a coil spring 1 which is mountedon a pin g on which the arms a are pivoted in such manner as to urge the lower ends of the clip into engagement.

I claim:

A spring clip comprising a pair of sheet metal arms, an arcuate sheet metal spring member apertured to receive the sheet metal arms in divergent position with their lower ends in resilient engagement and their upper ends spaced apart, one of said arms being provided with an outwardly extending hook adjacent its upper end thereof, and said spring member being provided with an opening in the side thereof in diametrically opposed relationship to the arm having the hook thereon whereby one clip may be hung-to another clip in lengthwise relationship by engagement of the hook on the arm of said one clip in the aperture of the spring member of said other clip, with a group of sheets engaging between the lower ends of the arms of each clip.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

